We advocate on all animal protection and exploitation issues, including experimentation, factory farming, rodeos, breeders and traveling animal acts.

Animal Defenders of Westchester
P.O. Box 205
Yonkers, NY 10704

Campaigns
Stop Traveling Animal Acts

Letter Asks for Circus Advice

We received this
letter asking for suggestions about an in-coming circus; our response is
below:

Please give me some suggestions on how to deal with the circus coming to
town. I live in Kansas City and am not aware of any animal activist groups
here. If one would just show up at the circus, would it be very likely that
other protestors will already be there and I could just join them? Any
suggestions would be very helpful.

Sincerely,

Jennifer

Dear Jennifer,

Thank you for contacting ANIMAL DEFENDERS OF WESTCHESTER. There is a lot
you can do about the circus coming to your town.

- In terms of finding out if there are other activists in your area, you
might contact Best Friends Sanctuary
www.bestfriends.org or People for the Ethical treatment of Animals
www.peta.org , both of which maintain an
activist network listing from all around the country.

- If you have one or two sympathetic friends, you've got a demo! As far
as going to the circus and possibly finding other activists, absolutely do
try - many times, for several reasons, area activists don't know about each
other's presence, but 'discover' each other at demos; and if there are
activists there already, I am certain they will welcome your attendance and
your wanting to help.

- If you go to the circus and there are no activists, you might consider
passing out leaflets to the incoming public on your own. It may feel awkward
at first (or maybe not - you sound adventurous!) - but remember, the animals
can't speak for themselves...if you hand out leaflets that tell their story,
you'll be doing a world of good - and you might be surprised to find some
circus goers happy to see someone there speaking out; there are people all
over who almost 'get it,' but need further impetus, need to know they don't
'have' to go to the circus, that there are alternatives. Peta supplies free
demo handout literature for circuses and other animal protection topics.

- If you're really adventurous, Jennifer, you can send out a press
release before the event - use one of the ones on our website as a model.
Write letters to the editor to your local newspaper, you might be very
pleasantly surprised to get newspaper space for your views on this and other
animal protection topics (also check our website for examples of letters to
the editor, if you need guidance on this).

- And if you see signs, free passes, etc, in your local stores that
promote the circus, ask the management to remove 'em; we've had a lot of
success with this, especially if you're a regular customer (even if you're
not, take a chance, ask politely that they be removed, give 'em literature.

I hope these suggestions prove helpful, Jennifer. Please feel free to
contact us at any time. Best luck to you, and thank you so much for wanting
to speak for those who have no voice and no choice.

ANIMAL DEFENDERS OF WESTCHESTER

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